Seattle Neighborhood Hangout
 

Hello Seattle area posters, I am in need of some suggestions.

My sister is going to be visiting Seattle for the first time, and we need some suggestions of things to do. We will be kid-free for some of her visit, so we need ideas on fun things to do without kids. I have mainly been to downtown for activities to entertain my little one, so I'm sorta blank on things to do in this situation. Also, this is entirely to please my sister, so I want to give her a good time.

Where is a cute neighborhood to drink coffee and tea? Something independent/local only. A nice atmosphere, cute shops, etc.

Also, somewhere easy to park/get around. I don't mind paying for parking.

I know she wants to see the original Starbucks (she's a long time employee, and we love the Bux), and she wants to see Pike Place Market, other than that we don't know.

She loves taking pictures, so places with a good view are good. Nice buildings, parks, etc. She's obsessed with coffee and tea, and we both like good food, especially vegetarian/vegan cuisine (although she does eat some meat). $20 and under a person would be our range, but we are willing to splurge if needed.

Oh, and she is really into that whole Punk, Emo, thing too...

Thanks in advance for any help!

Come to my neighborhood!! Drive you car up to 15th Avenue East on Capitol Hill (from downtown it's about 2.5 miles) and park on 15th in "front" of Volunteer Park (free street parking there, it's easy).

Within Volunteer Park there's a beautiful old plant conservatory, coi ponds, the Asian branch of the Seattle Art Museum, a water tower you can climb for the view.

Leave the car where it is and walk about 4 blocks south along 15th, you'll come to a district with lots of coffee shops (Victrola, North Hill Bakery, and Cafe Ladro are all independents), a few boutiques and small stores (Casita is great for gift items from Mexico), and lots restaurants.

Teapot is a totally vegan place. Around the corner from that Remedy Teas is an amazing spot. Jamjuree has excellent Thai food (with vegetarian selections). Olympia is good for pizza. These are all in your price range.

For the punk/emo thing head further south to the "Pike Pine Corridor" for another batch of various 20-something shops, bars and restaurants. Also maybe Broadway (parallel street west of 15th) but it's gotten a bit more upscale recently, but still a few edgy shops, particular for clothing.

suze - these are PERFECT ideas. Thank you SO much. Looking forward to exploring your neighborhood!

Suze, what is the name of the park up on Queen Anne with the rather iconic view of the Space Needle? You know, you see all those pics through the sculpture from up there? If her sis likes to take pics, that might be a fun stop for her.

I also found the Olympic Sculpture Park fund to wander for pictures as well.

It's Kerry Park, on W. Highland Drive a block west of Queen Anne Avenue N.

Capitol Hill is fine; in addition (no reason not to see more than one neighborhood) I'd strongly recommend the Fremont neighborhood, roughly around the junction of Fremont Ave. N. and N. 34th Street, adjacent to the Lake Washington Ship Canal.

Plenty of sights and places to hang, some notable sculpture ranging from rocket ships to trolls under bridges to Lenin and patient bus passengers. Cafes, restaurants, pubs, breweries, antiques, boutiques, tour a chocolate factory, walk along the ship canal or over to Gasworks Park... Fremont calls itself the Center of the Universe, and who are you to argue? ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont,_Seattle

Absolutely, epending on the amount of time you have add teh view from Queen Anne, Fremont... even out to Ballard and the Locks. Sculpture Park another good suggestion.

Madison Park is another nice area, just beyond Capitol Hill from downtown. A few shops and not particularly trendy but very "Seattle" feeling, there's a nice park/beach right on Lake Washington. Cactus (mexican restaurant) is a good place, with some vegetarian options.

I'll put in a plug for my neighborhood, West Seattle, about a 15 minute drive from downtown. The main business district, the Alaska Junction at California Ave SW and Alaska, is a 2 block stretch of mainly local shops and restaurants that almost feels small town. There's a great bakery, Bakery Nouveau, that's received national attention for the quality of its croissants and other pastries (go during the week, it's packed on the weekends).

West Seattle is a peninsula, so it's surrounded by water/mountain/city views and parks. Alki is the main beach area, and it also has a branch of Cactus, the mexican/SW restaurant mentioned previously. Not sure when you're coming but in the summer months, the water taxi is an option for getting to Alki from downtown.

Oh, he said Bakery Nouveau....<drool>.

LOL "obsessed with coffee and tea" means she'll have no trouble in Seattle.

I think I'd go to Freemont and Broadway and maybe even Queen Anne or Lower Queen Anne for neighborhoods.

For Broadway it probably makes the most sense to leave the car and take a bus. If you're staying in/near to downtown, you can probably walk from Broadway back to your digs.

For Freemont and Queen Anne, you'd probably want to take the car, particularly to drive under the north side of the "Aurora Bridge" to see and photograph the "Freemont Troll".

If only going to Lower Queen Anne, perhaps the city bus or Monorail would suffice. (it is near the Space Needle)

If your sis loves Starbucks, she'd probably get a kick out of just going around and counting them here.

Starbucks "headquarters" is two or three miles (south) on First Avenue from the Pike Place Market, and she might as well go there while in town.

The punks and emos are probably found in greatest numbers in the Broadway neighborhood.

If you are Starbucks fans, you will probably enjoy the new Starbucks specialty store--Roy Street Coffee & Tea at 700 Broadway East on Capitol Hill (in a great neighborhood about two miles from the heart of the downtown shopping district).

This shop brews coffee in distinctive ways. It is stylish and comfortable, and its big windows provide a delightful view of the historic Loveless Building. Also nearby are a historic movie house, popular restaurants, and unique shops.

Where are you staying? Go to upper Queen Anne Ave for some boutique shopping, Kerry Park views and Cafe Fiore on Galer for coffee. Lower Queen Anne on 4th North has Caffe Vita which is great for coffee too. I also agree that Fremont is kinda cool for boutique shopping but so is Ballard. In Ballard Cafe Verite and so many places to eat with veggie options, it's endless. You can walk to The Locks for pictures too. All of this you can do from bus starting in downtown and going up to QA and down to Fremont or Ballard. I will mention the Smith Tower which is cool and pictures from Pike Place of the water is good. I like Cafe Campagne for quiche, champagne and coffee/tea. There is a tea place in the market too. Check out Il Bistro for dinner in the market under the pig or Matt's in the Market. Both good dining choices. Can't help with punk per se.

www.remedyteas.com These folks take their tea seriously!

I absolutely agree with lenlu's suggestions above. Every one of them. I think you'll need more time in Seattle :-)

Thank you ALL for your great suggestions!
OK, just to clarify:
I live in Bellevue, so we will be driving into Seattle, and would like to just leave the car somewhere and walk or take the bus.
She will be here a week, but for 2 of those days I will have someone to watch my kids so that we can just do girl things and enjoy the city on our own pace.
So, if you had 2 days, how would you divide this up?
I was thinking Volunteer Park/Capitol Hill/Downtown/Olympic Sculpture Park/Pike Place Market (first Starbucks) on one day, then Kerry Park/Queen Anne/Fremont on the second?

suze - for sure Remedy Teas is on our list, that looks PERFECT!

I thought she might like it ;-) It's a pretty unique and amazing place.

Yes the way you have the two days divided looks fine. If you don't want to drive downtown, you can leave the car for the day on 15th Ave East side of Volunteer Park and catch the #10 down & back, it's right there.

Less that a block from Remedy Teas is a place that is even more of a "hangout": Smith's, owned by a woman who has a talent for creating hangouts, including the Odd Fellows Cafe and Linda's.

Sure Smith's is a great place too. But it's a *BAR* very much a tavern with food. Remedy Tea is an entirely different crowd of people! I didn't mention Smithbecause it really doesn't fit vegan, emo, punk, or any of the things mentioned in the OP.

Thanks suze - you are right, not really looking for a bar. But thank you happytrailstoyou for the suggestion. Also I love your suggetion of the Starbucks specialty store.
I really like the idea of going to Volunteer Park, exploring Capitol Hill, drinking tea, then taking the bus downtown. Once at Pike Place Market and the 1st Starbucks, can we walk to the Olympic Sculpture Park? Or is that crazy? Wondering if its a nice walkable area. Or is there a bus route we can take?
Also, for our other day, I'd like to go to Kerry Park - is there a place to leave the car while we explore Queen Anne? Can we take a bus from there to Fremont?

Slap my face! I was so focussed on "hangout" that I missed the interest in vegetarian gastronomy.

In that case, right next to Smith's is Hillside Quickie Cafe, a cozy little place that dishes up yummy sandwiches and other vegetarian specialties.

Next door is the very first of the "stealth" Starbucks cafes. It doesn't look like Starbucks, but you can use your Starbucks card there (and the coffee is much better than regular Starbucks).

About 1/2 mile down the hill from Remedy Teas is the very popular In the Bow Vegetarian Noodle Bistro, a storefront cafe at 1554 East Olive Way.

(The Teapot Restaurant, near Remedy Teas, is a vegetarian restaurant, but not one I can recommend.)

HTTY

Correction: The popular vegetarian restaurant is called "In the BOWL."

The sculpture park would be a bit of a hike from the Market area, but you could easily catch a bus up 1st Avenue, so you'd have a bit less walking.

On the Queen Anne/Fremont day, honestly I'd just take the car along. You're going in & out of mostly residential neighborhoods, it would be a lot easier than trying to do it on Metro bus. Parking won't be too terrible in those places.

For your Capitol Hill/downtown day, leave the car in front of Volunteer Park as already mentioned and bus on the #10 from 15th Ave or the #7 if you're down on Broadway or the #43.
:-)

p.s. I agree the Quicky Cafe is a cute place with better food than Teapot (Teapot is completely vegan is why I mentioned it but their dishes are hit or miss in my experience). BUT better than either I LOVE *Jamjuree Thai* on 15th a bit north back towards the park. They have many vegetarian choices, nice people, great atmosphere. That's where I'd go for lunch that day.